


Once. And again and again

by Mary_the_gardener



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, They are dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 10:12:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19851001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mary_the_gardener/pseuds/Mary_the_gardener
Summary: Five times Yuzuvier crossed paths and one time they finally got to know each other





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [K1mHeechu1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/K1mHeechu1/gifts).



> Hi everyone!  
> This was supposed to be a little 5+1 one-shot, but the plot basically wrote itself and became this, so don't blame me if it doesn't make sense! (And it does not, believe me)  
> Anyway I hope you enjoy a fluffy update for once!

Yuzuru had finally a day off. He really, really needed some rest. He decided to just sleep in till late, he had earned the right to it. It was _his_ free day and he had no intention at all to get out of his apartment. Nothing could make him change his mind today. 

On the other hand, getting out of his bed was something he was bound to do, sooner or later, even if just to satisfy the needs of his grumbling stomach; so at a quarter to noon he decided to gather his forces and drag himself to the kitchen. He was still a responsible athlete and knew that he had to get something nutrient into his system, but this didn't exactly imply that it couldn't be something easy and fast. Some tofu and fresh vegetables maybe? He opened the fridge. 

A desolate land.

That would have been a fitting description indeed. The eye was presented with the view of a fallen bottle of ketchup in the shelves of the door, some ginger - still good enough to be used - and some very sad salad that would make you think of the wrinkled face of a pretty old lady.

Maybe he had to opt for something else. He opened the cupboard: various packs of different dried beans that could have been good for dinner or more likely tomorrow's lunch. Yuzuru kept looking around, dread creeping upon him with every shelf he checked.

It was his day off. After an endless week of intense training. And he may have been too tired in the evenings to stop by at the store on his way home. And now this was all getting back to him. 

Yuzuru was feeling extremely dejected. He had to go out. It couldn't be true. But still, he would never get so low as to get some delivery. That was never going to happen. He would just put on a jacket and his shoes and do some very fast grocery shopping. Who could ever care if he was still wearing his pyjamas underneath? And, let's be honest, his hair was always a mess, so wasting energy to tame it now didn't make any sense. 

So he put on his shoes, grabbed a jacket, grabbed his wallet and keys and ventured into the outside world, on a mission. 

He decided to go to the nearest store, the one he didn't like and never went to for no real reason. He got in, grabbed some vegetables, some other fresh goods and then hurried down the aisle to get also some cereals - he needed his carbs.

He was hurriedly walking around a shelving unit, annoyed because he couldn't find any of the things he needed in this unknown store, when he almost bumped his cart into a guy who seemed very much absorbed in a package of some kind of chocolate snack. He had stopped in time, no damage done, but he still blurted out by reflex an "I'm sorry!" that seemed to snap the man out of his snack-induced stupor and made him raise his head at Yuzuru for a second, flashing him a kind, unperturbed smile and then turning back down, picking a different box from the shelf and starting to stare at it again.

Yuzuru remained there for a moment, eyes wide, startled by that friendly gesture. Ok, honestly, by that awesome face. But it was just an instant, the time for these two thoughts and then his brain remembered the state he was in and he hurried away, embarrassed by his baggy pyjamas. He got to the cashier as fast as he could, paid and got out of there, the rest of the items on his mental list forgotten.

Only once he got the door of his apartment closed behind his shoulders he did finally stop, sagging on the wooden surface, bags dropped down on the floor. What a shame. He closed his eyes and wished to go back in time, get dressed properly and avoid having to run away in such a terrible way.

At least he had learned a good lesson today: never go out in your pyjamas and dishevelled hair, it might be the one time you meet the most beautiful man on the face of the earth.


	2. 2

Javier was leaning his head against the window glass, eyes closed, lost in thoughts. Actually, scratch that, he was too tired to properly think about anything, it was more like a compact herd of untamed horses running wildly around the uninhabited land that was his mind. Wait, wasn't he a little too tired to make metaphors now? Apparently not. So, we were saying: a herd of horses. Right. Probably with some zebras mingling in between them, since he was trying to keep the last shred of his attention on his surroundings, attempting to keep track of the stops. Missing his hadn't been a nice experience. 

He shivered a bit at the memory of that time he'd had to walk all the way back because he had slept for not one but three stops further than his, opening his eyes and checking the landscape outside his window. It was all ok, still nine or ten stops to go. Plenty of time to rest some more. 

He kept his stare on the moving buildings and sidewalks and regularly placed street lamps that were just now starting to work, thinking of Effie waiting for him at home and whether she would like the new food he'd bought her at the shop on his way to the bus stop. The new grooming brush she would hate for sure, but the situation had become just too much, bunches of hair falling down with every move she made, covering basically every surface of the apartment; the floor was ok, he could just vacuum and it'd be done, but dusting - ~~hairing?~~ \- every furniture surface every single day was way too much work for the little time he had. So the brush. He knew she couldn't stand it and that was the reason why he had thrown away the previous one in the first place. But with this extraordinary hot summer she was shedding just too much. He was still mildly allergic after all and there were just so many pills he could take, more wouldn't be healthy. Ok, keeping a cat when you're somehow allergic was not very healthy to begin with, but he liked them so much: getting Effie had been one of the best decisions he had ever made, and he just couldn't imagine his life without her to keep him company in his lonesome apartment.

The bus came to another stop and he turned his head to watch the people coming in through the front door. Actually, there was just one guy. Who stepped in and... made a little bow to the driver? Javier moved to the other seat to watch better: he had stopped there and was talking now, apparently making conversation. Maybe it was a ticket inspector? No, not possible, he would have worn the usual uniform. Well, maybe he was just a friend? Thad made more sense. Javier kept watching their interactions: the passenger was incredibly fit, he could see his profile now and, uh... his mind went blank for a moment. That ass. It was huge. No. Not huge, to be fair it looked perfectly proportioned with the rest of the body. But it was so perfectly round. Like it had been drawn with a compass.

Javier couldn't take his eyes off it. He momentarily lost himself in thinking how it would feel to touch it, sink his fingers in it. Would it be soft? Or would it be all muscles? The latter probably, given how fit his whole body looked. 

He was lost fantasizing about nails sinking into skin when his thoughts were abruptly interrupted by someone walking right in front of his eyes. Javier blinked, then turned his head to look at the figure walking down the aisle and sitting in one of the rows near the back. It was the same boy he'd been watching a second ago. Maybe he could walk up to him? Talk to him and... 

And fuck, he had been too busy thinking about grooming brushes and cat food to notice that they had gotten pretty close to his stop. And then not very pure thoughts. And now it was there. He jerked out of his reverie and jumped up reaching for the red button, then grabbed his bags and ran for the door. Just in time, phew, will he ever learn?

It was a pity though, he could have asked for his number or something. 

Oh, come on, who was he trying to fool? He knew himself well enough to know that he was too shy to hit on someone out of the blue like that!

For now impure thoughts were going to join sleep in the list of things he should better avoid while on the bus back home.


	3. 3

Monday

Yuzuru was left alone for the whole week because his coach had to accompany some of his athletes to the under 23 European Championships, and well, he was just a little too old to take part in those, not to mention the fact that he wasn't even European.

What a shame.

Sometimes he got quite frustrated because of that: Europeans were so cool, a lot of interesting athletes, and he just wished he could take part in them as well; he could switch from 800 meters to half marathon and run in the streets of those beautiful old cities full of history that always hosted the event. Come on, it couldn't be so hard to run twenty kilometres, could it?

Tuesday

He may even try to do it, gradually of course.

Wednesday

It was the smartest idea actually. He had been left all alone by his coach, so he was free to decide what was better for himself!

Thursday

He could take it easy, do something like jogging in the park

Friday

Yes, going jogging in the park was the best idea. He should totally go the next day.

Saturday

He was ready for a morning session of good, healthy - absolutely not meant to be training for a half marathon - jogging in the park. He was sporting his usual Under Armour summer training gear - t-shirt and short pants - and had picked a nice pair of earphones that would not have too much noise cancelling - he wouldn't like to run into someone and risk an injury, he _was not_ such a fool; but the night before he had even prepared a playlist especially for this, since the ones he usually listened to didn't seem appropriate. So now he started it and made his way down the stairs of the building his apartment was in.

How long should he run? A couple kilometres? Maybe five? He could probably do five, he was a well-trained athlete after all! He would probably be able to do five kilometres without problem, he just had to run a little bit slower than his usual pace and he would be ok. Yes, he would start with a five-kilometre run and then after a little rest he would consider whether to do more or if it was better to come back another day. Though coach was actually coming back on Tuesday, so he didn't have a lot of time. Because Yuzuru _knew_ that this idea was actually silly and that he would go back to his usual training the next week, but this awareness surely was not going to stop him now. Maybe he would find out that marathon was his thing.

He was feeling very optimistic, and once he reached the entrance of the park, he started his run, making sure to maintain his pace a little slower than usual. Reaching the first thousand meters was easy, he didn't even notice it and kept going, a happy smile on his face while One Ok Rock played in his earphones. But then he started to lose his stamina, legs feeling heavier and heavier, his lungs started to burn and he felt like there wasn’t just enough oxygen. He kept going though, he was Yuzuru Hanyu, he could do it, he had to reach five kilometres. Just. Had. To. Except his smartwatch indicated that he hadn't even run three. How was it possible? He started to go slower, his strides got sloppier and when he happened to see an unoccupied bench he couldn't help but flop on it. 

He closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath. Mostly trying to avoid an asthma attack. He felt like dying. What a pitiful sight he must have been. He tried to regain some composure: just for the sake of appearances he summoned all his remaining strength and turned around, trying to sit properly on the bench even if the best he could do was to lay with his back supported by the wooden boards and keep his eyes open. A guy appeared from the curve at the far end of the straight path he had stopped in; he was coming toward him at an easy pace, not very fast honestly, but he also seemed pretty fresh, like it was costing him nothing. Amazing. How did people do that? 

Yuzuru was fascinated, eyes wide and mouth o-shaped in awe at this incredible guy that steadily kept running toward him like he was just taking a relaxing walk. The closer he got and the more Yuzuru’s admiration grew. And not only because he was barely sweating...

But something else grew inside Yuzuru, a weird feeling of flashback, like he had seen that charming face before. He couldn't really explain it and it kept nagging at him with every meter the stranger made. Then he finally reached him and while passing he looked toward the bench and smiled, nodding a little, lovely brown eyes full of light. And Yuzuru knew where that feeling was coming from: it was the handsome, kind of snack-stoned guy he had kind of bumped into that one time more than one year before.

It was the beautiful guy he had run away from because he was still wearing his pyjamas. And now he had rivulets of sweat dripping down his face and was slumped on a bench half dead. Life sure was unfair.


	4. 4

It had turned out that Effie was not shedding just because of the heat.

When after feeding both her and himself he had brought the brush out of his bag, after chasing her up and down the furniture because she fled as soon as she saw the offending object, he had finally managed to get her in his lap and start to gently move it down her back, but after only a few strokes he had noticed with alarm that the hair coming away was leaving some bald spots. And that could not be simply because of the heat. That was not right at all. So Javier had put the brush away, had let Effie go find refuge on top of the living room cabinet, and had opened his laptop to draw on the infinite knowledge of Google. What he had found had put him quite in a frenzy: was she stressed? Or had an infection? Or maybe he hadn't fed her well enough? Or maybe with that habit of hers of jumping on furniture she had caught some weird parasite or, more probably, some kind of fungus? Whatever it was, one thing was clear: she was ill. And something had to be done as soon as possible.

Somehow he had managed to calm himself down enough to avoid calling the vet at that hour of the night, mainly reasoning that an after-hours call would have cost him more than a normal visit and that the problem was, in the end, not _that_ urgent.

But the next morning he had still woken up earlier than usual to be able to bring her to the vet before starting with his usual routine. He had gotten Effie into her carrier and together they had headed to the clinic.

The verdict had turned out to be as bad as Javier had feared: Effie had indeed some kind of infection - heaven knew how she had gotten it - and the thing per se wouldn't have been so bad if not for the fact that he had noticed so late and by now the thing had spread in the whole body. But the vet had also reassured them that with the right meds and a little patience all would have been fine. And with that she had asked them to come back after two weeks and had dismissed them with a kind smile and a prescription.

The first week Javier had felt so mortified and guilty he had almost fallen into depression, barely managing to keep up with his responsibilities and letting go of all the rest. The next one, seeing that Effie was doing a little better had helped improve his mood and he had even managed to drag himself out for a little jog. 

When the time for the second visit had finally arrived, things had gone pretty smoothly and they had left the clinic with some different, lighter meds and an appointment in another two weeks just to check up if things were really back to normal. 

From there things had gone quite well, Effie seemed to be doing a lot better and he had even managed to get her to hate the grooming brush a little bit less - because the vet had still insisted that, after being healthy again, she still needed it regularly. And now they were again sitting in the waiting room of the clinic, ready for the check up, and once home Javier would give Effie her favourite snack to celebrate.

There were a couple of people waiting with their cats before them, but that was all right; and waiting to see the other veterinarians working in the clinic were also three guys with dogs - a chihuahua, a shiba puppy and a little white terrier - and even an old lady with a green parakeet and a girl with a guinea pig.

Javier was so immersed in talking little nonsense to Effie that he didn't even notice someone else coming in until they sat right in front of him, and then he had just looked up and started smiling at them when he almost stopped in mid-motion, something weird settling low under his ribs.

The guy that had just walked in was carrying a box with a little fluffy white bunny inside. The bunny looked terribly scared, all curled up on itself, but the man... Javier saw something so deep in the brown of his eyes, even in the fraction of a second for which their gazes met before he bent down trying to soothe the shaking ball of fur, that it felt like he had taken a look into a completely new universe. At the same time though, he had a weird sensation of deja vu at the back of his mind, like they had met before. Both of these things made it so that he couldn't tear his gaze apart from the asian-looking guy, trying at the same time to recall if they had met before and incapable of doing so because he was too lost wondering how someone could be so beautiful. His skin was pearly and his hair black and shiny and perfectly styled and his features just flawlessly chiselled. And if this all wasn't enough, the way he was talking to the bunny was just the sweetest thing ever: he was whispering little words and sticking his fingers in between the bars of the case to somehow pet it a little. Javier was feeling kind of bewitched. He kept staring still, hoping to eventually catch his attention again, just to look into those eyes for one more second, and he even started to fear the moment in which the secretary would come in calling for him and Effie because that would probably ruin all his chances at that.

But when she did come in it was not his name that she called (even though the scottish fold had gone and there was only the weird persian with dark ears left inside), instead she turned to the other row of chairs and said "Yuzuru, you can come in now" and to Javier's wonder the asian man lifted his head to look at her, eyes a little wide, and in that moment it was like he'd been rewound back in time, like a tape fastly re-wrapping itself and then stopping at one exact frame for a moment barely long enough for his brain to register the image of a guy drenched in sweat, half lying on a bench in the park, and then starting again even faster than before only to finally stop on the image of a startled boy standing behind a cart in the centre of the aisle of a supermarket. And Javier thought he had finally connected it all and was starting to hope the persian would take very, very long so he could talk to him when he'd come out again, but then the guy rose, took the carrier and followed the secretary, and his mind sped up again, winding forward this time until it stopped on that day of the previous year when he had almost missed his stop again because of the most beautifully shaped B-side he had ever seen.

And he couldn't do anything more than gape, and his mouth was still wide open when the secretary came back in to call his name too.


	5. 5

Yuzuru was looking around the shelves of the pharmacy, a bit lost in thought, trying to see if they had anything that Katsu could like, just some little reward, for making it through the terrible biannual task of getting his shot at the vet the day before. And this time had been even worse, since after the usual one they'd had to go back one week later to give him one more shot of a different kind of disease that wasn't covered by the combined one. It had been awful: the poor thing still hadn't recovered from the first one and was still over-reacting to every moving thing that entered his field of view and, even worse, as soon as they had crossed the door of the vet he had started shaking like crazy, probably because something in the air had made him realize where they were. The sight had really made Yuzuru's heart shrink, his little precious companion hadn't been so scared in a while. And even worse, he was the cause of it, he was the one bringing him to this place where he would feel pain. But well, that was something that needed to be done. A shot was a matter of seconds and he preferred that to the idea of his little Katsu getting some horrible disease. He knew how important this was, but he still couldn't help but feel guilty and had tried to bring Katsu all the comfort he could, trying to reassure him with the sound of his voice, talking slowly to him and trying to pet him as well as he could without taking him out of his little carrier, thinking that it was better to avoid it, least the sight of all the other animals and their owners sitting in the waiting room scared him even more. 

Luckily for them their vet didn't have any other patient and so they had to wait very little. During those few moments Yuzuru had vaguely noticed that handsome guy he had met a couple of times before sitting in front of him, smiling at him like the other times but, honestly, he had been too worried to spare it more than a brief thought and had gladly followed the secretary as soon as she had called for them. 

Obviously Katsu had been still very shocked when they had arrived home and the situation had not gotten much better overnight; so now Yuzuru, taking advantage of the fact that he needed blister plasters anyway, was searching for a little reward that could make his little friend a bit happy.

While he was nosing around the shelves, he heard the bell that announced the entrance of a new client, he looked up out of curiosity and basically froze recognizing the actual person he had been thinking about. After the first few seconds of astonishment he collected himself and hid behind a shelf while deciding whether to go talk to him or not.

What should he do? What could he say? And what if the guy wasn't interested? Yuzuru tried to breathe to calm himself down - for sure having an asthma attack now was not the right thing to do. So. Well. Frankly he should go. He had nothing to lose, they were total strangers so there was no relationship to ruin and if things didn't work out he would just go back to his apartment and not think about it anymore, at least he’d know he had tried. 

While he was having these thoughts, the guy had taken a pack of cough drops and Yuzuru was just on the verge of getting out of his hiding place when he moved near the cashier and also grabbed not one but two boxes of condoms. Yuzuru's whole body stilled.

Oh no. That meant he was taken? Maybe not, maybe it only meant he wanted to have sex with someone. But two boxes. If they had been different maybe. But two identical boxes could only mean that he had a regular partner. 

Yuzuru felt like crying, he turned back and went to hide even further down the shelves. What an idiot. Why hadn't he thought that a man of such beauty could very hardly be still on the market. Idiot, idiot, idiot. He had avoided the biggest gaffe just by sheer luck. He should really learn to think twice more. And for now, to keep waiting where he was until he was sure he wasn't going to cry anymore.


	6. +1

After that one time at the veterinary clinic, Javier hadn't seen Yuzuru anymore – thanks to the secretary he had found that this was his name. It was probably one of those things in life, you know, the ones that you will never forget but that will never come back again, will never be part of your life. Like that one James Blunt song. To which he honestly listened from time to time now, with mixed feelings: a bit of sadness but also resignation, acceptance and thus serenity, sometimes he even felt lucky, because they had met so many times, even if only for a brief second each. But those seconds will be forever suspended in time. Forever in his memory and he will cherish them dearly, but without being attached to them: life goes on. He didn’t fall into depression and closed himself in his apartment nor started looking for him everywhere changing his bus to go back home and refusing friend’s invites to hang out.  
  
Months flew by, the leaves turned yellow, then orange, then red, then brown, then fell covering the streets only to be covered in their turn by the snow that enveloped Toronto. And then the last snow melt and spring and buds arrived, slowly blooming and filling the city with green until the summer heat took in and Effie started again to cover the apartment with hair – a moderate and healthy quantity this time – that Javier dutifully cleaned until the temperatures came down, the snow fell again and the streets started to sparkle with Christmas lights.

Javier and his friend Patrick had decided to go for a walk downtown to see what pretty Christmas decorations had been chosen that year. Actually, it would have been more accurate to say that Patrick had dragged him out: Javier desire to go out always hit a local minimum during the month of December, whit all that chilly snow covering the ground and the inevitable nostalgia of home that assaulted him every year. 

Anyway, despite all his refusals and trying to put his foot down, they were now walking down the streets, it was half past nine and the twilight had already surrendered to the night, but the city had not and was now sparkling as bright as it could with myriads of street lamps and little colored LEDs arranged so as to outline comets, or christmas trees, or snowflakes, or just writings that wished happiness to everyone.

The shops where competing for who had the best decorated window and they were practically stopping five minutes in front of each, the people around them were all cheerful and it was full of families with children jumping around with joy or begging their fathers for a ride on their backs.  
  
And it was exactly after they passed a very numerous group, with dads carrying their kids up on their shoulders, that he saw him. _Him_. It was truly him and he was walking in their direction and Javeri froze, he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk like a statue, with Patrick taking a few steps further before noticing the person he was talking to was suddenly not by his side anymore and turning to him with a questioning look. And he was sure Yuzuru had seen him too, and he was still walking toward them - him now-, and then he somehow smiled and stopped right in front of Javier.

"Hi..." He was wearing a long, elegant, dark blue coat and a scarf of the same colour was covering half of his face, but Javier still felt mesmerized.

"How's your bunny?" He was so entranced this was the best he managed to blurt out and he felt the urge to sink into the concrete, because who could be so stupid as to say something he wasn't even supposed to know, why couldn't he just have said Hi like every normal person. He hadn't even started and yet he had already fucked up, Yuzuru would think he was some kind of stalker and run away at the first occasion.

But to his surprise the boy smiled "He's doing very well thanks. And... what is your pet ehm...umh..."

"Javier, I'm Javier" He finally seemed to get back a little control over his mind and extended his hand out, catching Yuzuru’s in a firm shake.

"Yuzuru"

"It's really nice to meet you again Yuzuru. My pet is a calico cat, Effie, and she is well now..." With the corner of his eye he saw Patrick trying not to laugh while waving at him and then walking away. Meanwhile Yuzuru was looking at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

"...but, uh, she had some issues last year, also because of me... it's a bit complicated..."

"Oh. Oh, I'm really sorry... Maybe, if... if you aren't busy you could tell me about Effie's misadventures in front of a cup of chocolate?" Yuzuru had blurted out the last part of the sentence so fast Javier had had to think twice before understanding it, and the nervous look on Yuzuru's face as he waited for an answer made his hear flutter. No, let's be accurate, not flutter, it was literally jumping out of his throat!

"I would like it very much, Yuzuru"

"Yuzu, you can call me just Yuzu."

"Then you will have to call me Javi!"

And they started walking toward a cafe, colourful christmas lights sparkling above their heads, joyful kids running around with their families and jolly songs coming out from the shops. But no one was as happy as they were.


End file.
